8th December 2006 - Dortmund Westfalenhalle - GERMANY

MadMax

Invader
(ONLY read this if you want to be spoiled, or you have been to Maiden already.)


My first Iron Maiden concert was the worst and most disappointing concert I have ever attended.

Let me ask you a question first: are Maiden fans in other countries as stupid as German fans? It seemed to my girlfriend and me that Dortmund has a big tendency to push, relentlessly and selfishly! The fans blew that concert for both of us.

It started after we had made all the way from Berlin to Dortmund in a four-hour trip by train; we had arrived in Dortmund and used the subway to get to Westfallenhalle 1 where quite a number of people already stood broadly in front of the wide entrance. Seeing how many people would come after us, we decided to keep standing, which means two and a half hours of little movement and ever-reducing space around us. Shortly before the doors were finally opened, it was hard to breathe in-between all the others who were mostly taller than us, and then they started pushing forward from behind as if the first place in the row would be the only one to get! It was totally pointless because after a few meters we were checked and let in one by one... inside the outer ring of the hall, it was much more empty and we had time to get our clothes away and see the restrooms before walking into the hall.
A few rows directly in front of the stage had already built up, but most of the space was still empty and so we positioned outselves in about row seven. The stage wasn't all that big really and it had the Lauren Harris walls and a small drumset on it, and at about half past seven Lauren started her gig while many fans were still coming in, and my girlfriend and I had no problem to see most of the stage even though we had bigger people in front of us. When Trivium came on, it was a bit harder to see and the first fights started - a few fans obviously thought that they had to steal our spots and tried to force themselves in which resulted in quite a bit of movement, and some fans didn't pay attention to others and simply raved away so much that the whole crowd in the front was shaken apart. We lost our good spots in the right half of the crowd and were shifted towards the far right where we tried to stay until Maiden came on.

Trivium were quite good actually; they played some good stuff and got the people hot, but the sound wasn't as good as I'd expect it for a Maiden concert - guitar solos were hard to hear, singing sounded distorted and the bass was up way too much; I've been to better sounding gigs. But it should get worse, with the fans and the sound.

When the Maiden intro started, we were shifted to the right side again; now it was hard to see anything and when Different World started, the only thing I saw were masses of people falling away from me and back at me, and my girlfriend (she's smaller than me) was drawn into that pool and couldn't really stand up on her own even when I tried to drag her up again. The movement down there was so extreme that we could neither breathe nor stand, just because those F*CKING German FANS tried aimlessly to get to the front which was impossible! It was FULL, nobody could get through, but they still tried, pushing us down and away from the stage - the only thing I saw was Steve coming to the end of the stage and Bruce jumping up, and a second of Nicko's drumset, and then I turned away from the stage and dragged my crying girlfriend out of the crowd, which was difficult but the people understood my handsigns and let us out. The speakers practically blew us out too; we both had hearing protection on, but the music was SO loud it was hard to bear. I've been to rock concerts without protection and it was never so loud; there were no dynamics left in the audio, everything was a washed mess of guitars and bass and drums and distorted singing, it was quite shocking as I was expecting a lot better from Maiden.

Anyway, we were out of the crowd and looked back, and they were all pressed against the stage while the rear half of the hall was empty! I mean, of course people at the back try to get to the front, but this was madness. We went out of the hall to the outer ring and sat down to drink something; we were both shaking.

Practically the whole experience was ruined and all the money and waymaking and waiting was for nothing. We went back in to see the rest of the show after we had missed out on These Colours Don't Run, and when we came in, the crowd had spread much farther to the back and it looked as if the heavy movement in the front rows had stopped, but there was NO way back in there, so we had to stand at the right side diagonally to the stage with speakers blocking our view from seeing Nicko or any of his drums, and while we did see the other band members and Bruce came over to the edge of the stage sometimes, it was simply not the same. I felt I was standing beside the greatest concert of my life and watching it unfold for all these idiots who had pushed us out. I wanted to be a part of the fans down there in the first place, I came to see especially Nicko since I'm a drummer myself and I was so interested in seeing him play, and now all of that was lost. I stood there with my girlfriend and "watched" the show while hearing, well, average sound... guitar solos were hard to make out although they sounded good if they were hearable, the drumming was excellent but couldn't be seen, and Bruce's vocals had clear dropouts whenever he reached one of his high notes which were simply not there. Also, the fact that they played the whole album through and then followed with some old hits wasn't particular exciting in my opinion; I would have liked more if they had played a mix of both. Not even The Number Of The Best was played because of the short time they had after AMOLAD. Some of the songs from the album also didn't sound particularly good live, for example Benjamin Breeg didn't have the power and groove it had in the studio, but again, there was little room for dynamics in the audio.

In summary, I didn't get to see my idol drummer except for a few moments when he threw sticks and drumheads to the crowd, I was not part of the crowd anymore and felt left out of the experience, and I wasn't even motivated enough to sing along with Fear Of The Dark or Hallowed Be Thy Name... the concert was just plain disappointing, and all that thanks to the wonderful German Maiden fans who made AMOLAD #1, as Bruce praised twice that evening. He was very well-tempered and seemed to love the fans, but they didn't love each other. If this is the norm with Maiden concerts in general, I won't go to another one.
 
I'm sorry to hear about your first Maiden concert was ruined by crazy and selfish fans. My first concert with Maiden was in Sweden on the AMOLAD tour, and my experiance was nothing like yours at all. There were no fighting when the people with standingtickets ( I didn't have a standingticket :( ) gathered on the floor. It all went down without trouble. So I think you should try another Maiden concert (maybe in Sweden this time?). It is not something you want to miss out.
 
I'm sorry to hear that...

The only problem in Sweden (17/11) was a bunch of fucking moshers who ruined the whole Fear of the dark for us.
 
I'm sorry about you MadMax.  I had seating tickets,  so things were better for me...

So,  there I was with a friend of mine,  wandering in the venue,  debating on what time we should head to our seats  (we didn't know when Lauren Harris was playing).  At some point we could hear some music from the inside,  which I thought was just being played back through the PAs.  But,  then,  it sounded quite "live",  so I thought Lauren must have started.  We then went and took our seats,  and got the whole vibe of the thing.  I didn't really like her.  I mean her music,  not her looks (she was quite cute :P).  I couldn't make a word she was singing or saying (I had a hard time realizing she spoke English).  Still,  because I knew what was coming next,  I didn't really want her to end.

But,  she ended her part,  so it was time for the untalented to come on stage.  The sound was way too heavy,  that guy couldn't bloody sing well (is that called singing btw?)  and the solos just pierced my ears!  All the time they were playing I was staring at my watch,  at the crowd,  etc.  Their singer kept going "Dortmund I hear is the f**king capital of Metal,  so bang your heads on this one",  but only few were headbanging anyway.  Thy sucked all in all.  And finally,  the massacring of my hearing came to an end...

Through the PAs Doctor Doctor started playing,  and then the intro,  until  we heard Nicko's AYEE!  The band came onstage,  and were great.  But,  the sound was not that good.  The guitars weren't loud enough,  so the instrumental parts were quite fucked up.  Still,  I kept singing along,  screaming until my lungs were sore (Bruce was in top form though). 
The new album was a little spoiled for me.  I couldn't clearly hear the guitar parts,  so all the beautiful instrumentation was lost.  Brighter Than A Thousand Suns was quite good,  and The Legacy was great!  The rest, well,  mediocre imo.


All in all,  I can't say I was as excited as I expected myself to be.  Even so,  it was a break from this school year's awful routine,  and I'm grateful for it.  After the show,  I met with Maidenfreak and Perun,  who both said they didn't enjoy the show as much,  since they were standing (same complaints as MadMax's).  It was nice meeting you guys (great blokes both of you),  but unfortunately it wasn't for too long  :(.    Will be glad to meet you again some other time  :D 

End of post.  -_-
 
Whew, I am kind of relieved that you guys tell me it's not a usual thing what happened in Dortmund; thanks anyway for the comments and the sorries; I needed a bit of consolation since I'm still very sad and pissed off even today. Man, I so wished I could have seen Nicko! :(

It's also a "relief" to hear that I was not the only one at that gig who had problems, although now I must say sorry for Maidenfreak and Perun; you made all the way there and couldn't properly enjoy the show, that's very sad.

Next time Maiden come around (Bruce said something about coming back to Germany in summer!), I'll know to either take a seating place (though this is not the point of a metal concert; I want to be IN the crowd) or to see Maiden in another town (like Stuttgart), or even country (like Denmark or England). If I had the money right now, I would try to catch them in one their upcoming shows...
 
Well, I'm not going to say much that MadMax didn't already say, but I still need to vent.
The first thing that happened to me on Friday was that my train in Erlangen had a delay of 15 minutes. This meant it arrived at Nuremberg right when the train I was to take to Dortmund departed, and when I got onto the platform, I saw it pass by (and in my mind, I saw 200 Euros pass by). Fortunately, I could get another train (my ticket got rebooked for free, finally something resembling service at the Deutsche Bahn) and got to Dortmund anyway, after this scare. As a matter of fact, I even arrived early in Dortmund and had some time to kill before I met Freaky.
When we got to the concert hall, I decided to try and trade my seated ticket for a standing one. At first, I tried to actually "trade" it (knowing it wouldn't work), but eventually, I decided to go full risk, sold my ticket and bought a standing one from the black market. Well, I was overjoyed.

Now, I wish I hadn't done it.

The first thing I noticed when I got in was that there was no second safety barrier as in Bercy, and, as I learned later on, as in EVERY OTHER FUCKING VENUE. I didn't think too much of it at that point, though, and during the Lauren Harris and Trivium gigs, I managed to get quite close to the front in a modest and friendly manner (even though I didn't have much respect for some of the loud and annoying kids). When I got to third or fourth row, I was satisfied, and decided it was enough. It wasn't for some other people though, and I saw many who actually tried to get to first row -which was so packed there was absolutely no space between the people. Things got quite ugly towards the end of the Trivium gig (which was, once again, boring) and there was already a lot of pushing and one or two mosh pits.
But things got really ugly when Maiden started. There was some serious pushing during Different World already, but it wasn't that bad yet. However, during These Colours Don't Run, I couldn't breathe at all, and at one point, some huge pushing from all directions caused about twenty or thirty people -including me- to fall down. That is something that is completely intolerable at ANY concert, and for some moments I seriously feared for my life. I thought it would calm down, but NO! During the QUIET intro of Brighter Than A Thousand Suns, people just KEPT BLOODY MOSHING! Not only do I think moshing is completely inappropriate and no way to behave at a Heavy Metal concert, but damn! It doesn't even fit to the music anymore! Things got worse and worse, and I got pushed to the back more and more, and there were just more and more bloody moshers! Everywhere! And if people didn't mosh, they just kept pushing in ALL BLOODY DIRECTIONS! Things got so bad that during The Longest Day, I finally decided to go to the back completely, every single nerve in my body hurting, gasping for air, feeling god awful (I had a cold already, and I felt like I could just lie down and die). Not to mention I lost my sweatshirt somewhere up front and could barely hold on to my jacket (which was the reason why I couldn't get up immediately after I fell down at the beginning- I had to keep my hands on my jacket because I had the key to the locker with all my stuff at the railway station in it). Finally at the back, I decided to get the first drink available, which of course was a god-awful and overpriced caipirinha, which I just bought for the crushed ice- which unfortunately did not melt but vaporise. So, I stood at the back the rest of the gig, all by myself, mood ruined, feeling awful and, as MadMax put it for himself, not part of it at all. One thing that really pissed me off was that during the early part of the set, Bruce eyed the moshers really, really sourly, but did not say a word, and at the end even said they were the best fans in the world.
I thought a lot about the reasons for the crowd behaviour, and I just couldn't resist to compare it to the one in Paris, which was absolutely marvellous compared to this. Does it have to do with the crowd being German? No idea. I'll tell you when I get back from London.

Nevertheless, it was a pleasure to meet SneakySneaky and Maidenaustria, and many thanks to Freaky for hosting me.
 
I am really sorry to read all this :(




Myself, I have experienced such moments twice before in Maiden shows, but definitely not this terrible as in Dortmund. Last time was with the DoD-tour in Rotterdam, in 2003, and it spoiled the whole show as well.

In 2003 I thought there was enough space so I went to the front and I stood pretty comfortable, almost front row before the opening act started. During the opening act it still was comfortable and after the opening act still no worries. When Maiden came on it got crowdier and crowdier and when The Trooper started, the f**cking pushing started. SUDDENLY it was a mad house. My wife got also punches on her head and we were all stuck like fish in a can (breathing problems). What I learnt was, that things can go very fast.

Since this occasion, I keep 4 factors in mind, when going to a Maiden gig.

1) The venue (barriers and such)
2) The crowd (how fast is it growing - how soon will the venue be full)
3) The setlist (this sounds rediculous but the aggressive people are mostly aggressive during the older songs, the classics)
4) Most important: my own position.

This year I decided to stay behind a bit, just close enough so that I could see the bands faces. I had more space and I could observe the band well. Later, I saw that the 2nd barrier seemed to hold quite some people back and there was quite some space between the 1st and the 2nd barrier. I decided to go more to the front and things kept going well.

So, these were my tactics... Not starting in front, but slowly going to the front, if possible.


Hope you guys will feel better soon. I also hope that there will be a next Maiden gig in the future for you, especially if this was the first one. This gig should not be a last one, it should be replaced by a better one.
 
This was definitely not my last Maiden gig, but it might have been the last one on German soil for me.
 
The same things happened to us. You might see us, a group of Russian fans, we wear white shirts with a Trooper picture in it, if you remember. The crowd went crazy on f**kin` Trivium (honestly, i don`t f**kin` understand, why they were chosen as a special guests). When Maiden started to play their set, we were thrown at the distance of about 10 meters from the edge of the pit and we kept our position till the end of the gig catching and holding each other when all that bloody stuff took place. It is extremely disappointing moment, when you fly several thousands kilometers to see your favourite band and such shit happens. These mother f**kers spent 55 Euros VS 460 (totally, including flight and hotels) spent by everyone of us. It is very sad that we`ve almost had to fight for seing our favourite band and keeping us safe.
 
Mind that there are always some idiots or people behaving like this on Metal concerts. All that pushing, too, occured here at the show in Switzerland. As soon as Maiden started playing the classics (from
'Fear of the Dark'
until the end of the gig) the pushing set in. This is most likely to happen anywhere I think. Whenever there is a mass of people, some individuals will be there not to enjoy what they paid for but to get agressive. And lots of them get agressive because of consuming too much alcohol (beer) that is sold inside the venue which is a bad thing to do. All this won't happen in the seating area and that's where I'm going to be next time. In addition one is able to see the whole stage a lot better; something that is better for small people anyway.
 
Hmm,

I didn't attend this show, but I read your reports with interest.

In a way I wonder if it really was worse than other shows (a mate of mine attended it and made no mention of it and said it was a great show). Dunno. I thought at Den Bosch (and Bospop last year) we had a very 'smooth ride' with hardly any pushing at all. At Dynamo 2000 matters were not quite the same, but then, that was a much more 'battle-hardened' thrash metal like crowd, and a much bigger crowd at that, AND I was clinging on to the fences in the very first row. :P

I don't know if the Dortmund show was excessive, but I think it's a bit hard to go to any metal concert (yes, including Maiden), try to end up at or around the front, and then expect to be able to not have heavy pushing and pits around you...

Either way: that second barrier may indeed make a BIG difference. At Den Bosch I was right behind that and had no issues at all, at Bospop there was none, and I was around 3th or 4th row from the front and that was a tranquil audience, but then, I was towards the side of the stage, and not right in the centre. At Dynamo I came out somewhat sore (again, no second barrier), but that was prime position, first row, centre of the stage. :)

Finally: MadMax, I'm afraid I have to dissapoint you in one respect: it is very hard to see Nicko well from ANY position at a Maiden show. If you're too close to the stage, you may not see him until he comes up to the front of the stage at the end of the show (or so was the case at Dynamo), as the stage is normally high enough to successfully completely block any view of him. Then, at Bospop, slightly from the side, again we hardly saw him until the end. This tour, in Den Bosch, we were somewhat further out (say row 15 or so?), which was partially due to looking for a recording 'sweet spot' and partially because I had hoped to see Nicko better this time. Not much luck. The drum kit was definitely well visible from this position, but Nicko himself was dwarfed by it (and to further compound matters, -surprise, surprise-, he was behind it of course :P ). Really, it is hard to see much more than his head occasionally, which, I think is also why other band members always make jokes about the drummers 'not being part of the band'. If you really want to see some of his drumming you're much better off buying one of their official live DVDs, as the cameras fortunately do him much more justice then, than the real live experience does....
However, even if one doesn't see him a lot, at least he's very audibly present, so that makes up for that. ;)

Cheerz,
MM
 
The thing is, there is always pushing (and, unfortunately, even mosh pits) at Heavy Metal concerts, and I'm used to that. But this was excessive, and I heard the same thing from quite a few people who went to many Maiden gigs.
Hell, things were completely different at the gig in Paris!
 
Hi again,

Last night I received an e-mail from my German mate who attended the Dortmund show too. He confirmed that concerts over there tend to be like that, but he disagreed about the sound quality etc.

He may later add his comments, such that the review of this show actually focuses somewhat more on the music, and not so much on a 'tough crowd'...

Also, please note that even though I did not attend this particular show, I mainly reacted as I was somewhat annoyed by three things:

1) I found the posts to be very insulting about the German fans. I checked where Madmax was from and found out he too is German, but still I find it weird that some of you generalise so much: I attended the Den Bosch show with a German fan and he wasn't pushing me or any other people around. It's out of line to blame such a thing on a specific nationality, I think.

2) I don't understand all the issues people have with Trivium. To be honest I thought they were pretty good. O.k., they may have been on the fast/heavy/speedy/thrashy/death side of metal, but I still kinda like that music, and I thought they played a very cool type of it: fast, powerful and still with lots of melody, good guitar work and good singing (yes, YMMV on that verdict). I was fearing a run-of-the-mill grunting death metal band, but I was gladly surprised by them, and I thought they did positively contribute to it, and played a powerful set.
Perhaps my speed/thrash roots kicked in here... having been severely into the likes of Slayer etc. in their prime time (Reign in Blood!), I don't mind fast and aggressive music, just as long as there's melody left, and it's not just one 'wall of sound' (like is the case mostly with death metal and grindcore, which I've never cared much for, really). Anyway, this is perhaps just MY opnion...:/

3) I'm sorry to see some of you having had such a rough ride, and that that spoiled a lot of the fun, but I do think it is a very bad idea to prefer a seated position over a field one on a Maiden show. For me, there's no way on earth I could keep sitting down during their show, I just get too enthusiastic, and it is SO much more fun to be standing, even if it is more towards the back where the audience is not so wild! Also, note that Bruce doesn't like people 'hiding' in the seats in the back (if there are other positions open, of course), and tends to somewhat mock the people in the back. Who would want to be in a position that is to the dislikes of the band?
A great moment in which he did some serious mocking (much more so than at Den Bosch), was during Sanctuary @ Dynamo 2000 (have a listen to it for fun). I thought that was a BIG comfort to all of us at the front who endured extremely heavy rain and were completely soaked. :)

O.k., just my opinions though... Again, I didn't attend this particular show, so perhaps I have no right to speak, but on a general note I wanted to set some points straight...

I'll crawl back into my box again now. :D

Cheerz!
MM
 
Not to sound xenophobic or anything, I still consider Germans to be quite similar to locusts. Individually, they're pretty harmless and can be very nice (I have many German friends), but in a swarm they can become incredibly annoying. Anyone who's been to holiday resorts where Germans are 'swarming' like this will understand what I mean...
 
mysterymadman said:
1) I found the posts to be very insulting about the German fans. I checked where Madmax was from and found out he too is German, but still I find it weird that some of you generalise so much: I attended the Den Bosch show with a German fan and he wasn't pushing me or any other people around. It's out of line to blame such a thing on a specific nationality, I think.

I'm German myself. I don't feel insulted at all. As a matter of fact, I'm glad somebody finally says these things.
All I can do is compare the Dortmund gig to the Paris gig, and all I can say there is that the Paris gig was a whole different world.

2) I don't understand all the issues people have with Trivium. To be honest I thought they were pretty good. O.k., they may have been on the fast/heavy/speedy/thrashy/death side of metal, but I still kinda like that music, and I thought they played a very cool type of it: fast, powerful and still with lots of melody, good guitar work and good singing (yes, YMMV on that verdict). I was fearing a run-of-the-mill grunting death metal band, but I was gladly surprised by them, and I thought they did positively contribute to it, and played a powerful set.
Perhaps my speed/thrash roots kicked in here... having been severely into the likes of Slayer etc. in their prime time (Reign in Blood!), I don't mind fast and aggressive music, just as long as there's melody left, and it's not just one 'wall of sound' (like is the case mostly with death metal and grindcore, which I've never cared much for, really). Anyway, this is perhaps just MY opnion...:/

Well, it's a matter of taste, isn't it? I personally thought Trivium were incredibly boring. Sorry if you don't like that.

3) I'm sorry to see some of you having had such a rough ride, and that that spoiled a lot of the fun, but I do think it is a very bad idea to prefer a seated position over a field one on a Maiden show. For me, there's no way on earth I could keep sitting down during their show, I just get too enthusiastic, and it is SO much more fun to be standing, even if it is more towards the back where the audience is not so wild! Also, note that Bruce doesn't like people 'hiding' in the seats in the back (if there are other positions open, of course), and tends to somewhat mock the people in the back. Who would want to be in a position that is to the dislikes of the band?
A great moment in which he did some serious mocking (much more so than at Den Bosch), was during Sanctuary @ Dynamo 2000 (have a listen to it for fun). I thought that was a BIG comfort to all of us at the front who endured extremely heavy rain and were completely soaked. :)

Well, as I said, I sold my seated for a standing ticket. So what do you want to say?
 
Hey, I wasn't aware you were German too, Perun! Thought you were, umm... French? ::)

Still wished this software had a quote button... off to type manually...

The drum kit was definitely well visible from this position
That would have been enough for me. I am a drummer, I love drums and I want to see Nicko's kit LIVE on the stage with drums vibrating and cymbals bouncing. And once in a while he does get up and stand behind his kit, and that would have been enough for me! But not seeing anything, not even his set, was disappointing to say the least.

I found the posts to be very insulting about the German fans. I checked where Madmax was from and found out he too is German, but still I find it weird that some of you generalise so much: I attended the Den Bosch show with a German fan and he wasn't pushing me or any other people around. It's out of line to blame such a thing on a specific nationality, I think.
Well, as you said I am German myself and when I say "stupid German fans", of course I am not referring to the Germans on this board because they are of the seemingly rare kind of fan who has some common sense in them. Really, the wide majority of "fans" in Dortmund was stupid; they didn't even stop pushing when everyone went OUT of the hall after the show and all I could think was, "man, are you all NUTS?!" That's why I blame ALL of them for blowing this concert for the intelligent fans, and I'm not afraid to show that.

I don't understand all the issues people have with Trivium. To be honest I thought they were pretty good.
I didn't like Trivium at all before their recent album, but in preparation for the concert I listened to it and thought that some of the songs were pretty cool, so I recognized them at the show and kind of felt "at home" even with the opening act. Others who never heard a song by Trivium were probably bored, also because the live sound was more noise than music.
 
Hiya,

Perun said:
I'm German myself. I don't feel insulted at all. As a matter of fact, I'm glad somebody finally says these things.
All I can do is compare the Dortmund gig to the Paris gig, and all I can say there is that the Paris gig was a whole different world.

O.k., as mentioned, I wasn't there, nor am I German myself (I'm Dutch), but the two partial phrases: "...as stupid as German fans..." and "...F*CKING German FANS..." came across to me as too strong and too much of a generalisation. It may simply have been a bunch of people who didn't realise proper pit behaviour (i.e. helping one another to one's feet and to one's lost things in the pit), as at times is the case with very young guys who go to shows to wreak some havoc (much like, though less extremely so, is (used to be?) the case with skinheads attending shows). It's a thing that happens at metal shows, and I'm not convinced this is something typically German, but then, again, I wasn't there, so my judgement may be void anyway...:/

Perun said:
Well, it's a matter of taste, isn't it? I personally thought Trivium were incredibly boring. Sorry if you don't like that.

...just to let you know that not all Maiden fans hate them. I quite enjoyed their show. :)
As mentioned, YMMV. No argument there...

Perun said:
Well, as I said, I sold my seated for a standing ticket. So what do you want to say?

Yes, what I wanted to say is that that was a brave move, and a very cool one at that, IMO, and hence I applaud that! The thing which I read though, was that you wrote something like "...lateron I regretted that...". I think you might also have regretted not being in the standing part (even though the front was a 'battlefield'), even if from what I gather you had some particularly nasty experiences in losing stuff, which really sucks... :(

Anyway, perhaps a case of "damned if you do, damned if you don't", and all I was really trying to say is that I hope people don't get discouraged in buying standing tickets, as standing places -under normal conditions- really are THE place to enjoy a Maiden show, even if that means going a few rows further back, so you're not around pits and so...

Cheers,
MM
 
It was my 8 Maiden gig - good Iron Maiden gig. I came with  about 20 fans from Poland Friday morning. We`ve met very nice people in dortmund city, but i`ve found out many agressive german fans in the venue. For me, its ridiculous to smoke in the first rows when its very hard to catch the breath anyway. I was with my girlfriend in the second row in front of Janick, and fans keeps pushing quite hard, but when they get to the 3rd or 4th row, they just keep standing and watching. Most of the people i think didnt knew the lyrics as there was not much singing. Just pushing, strange. Anyway, Maiden played really well. Like I said, it wasnt best Maiden gig, but it was good.
 
mysterymadman said:
I hope people don't get discouraged in buying standing tickets, as standing places -under normal conditions- really are THE place to enjoy a Maiden show, even if that means going a few rows further back, so you're not around pits and so...


Cheers,
MM

I think Perun already experienced this, since he went to Paris.
 
mysterymadman said:
Hi again,

Last night I received an e-mail from my German mate who attended the Dortmund show too. He confirmed that concerts over there tend to be like that, but he disagreed about the sound quality etc.

He may later add his comments, such that the review of this show actually focuses somewhat more on the music, and not so much on a 'tough crowd'...

Also, please note that even though I did not attend this particular show, I mainly reacted as I was somewhat annoyed by three things:

1) I found the posts to be very insulting about the German fans. I checked where Madmax was from and found out he too is German, but still I find it weird that some of you generalise so much: I attended the Den Bosch show with a German fan and he wasn't pushing me or any other people around. It's out of line to blame such a thing on a specific nationality, I think.

I agree with you,  generalizing German fans isn't good.

mysterymadman said:
2) I don't understand all the issues people have with Trivium. To be honest I thought they were pretty good. O.k., they may have been on the fast/heavy/speedy/thrashy/death side of metal, but I still kinda like that music, and I thought they played a very cool type of it: fast, powerful and still with lots of melody, good guitar work and good singing (yes, YMMV on that verdict). I was fearing a run-of-the-mill grunting death metal band, but I was gladly surprised by them, and I thought they did positively contribute to it, and played a powerful set.
Perhaps my speed/thrash roots kicked in here... having been severely into the likes of Slayer etc. in their prime time (Reign in Blood!), I don't mind fast and aggressive music, just as long as there's melody left, and it's not just one 'wall of sound' (like is the case mostly with death metal and grindcore, which I've never cared much for, really). Anyway, this is perhaps just MY opnion...:/

I don't think I'll comment on that one. It's your opinion.

mysterymadman said:
3) I'm sorry to see some of you having had such a rough ride, and that that spoiled a lot of the fun, but I do think it is a very bad idea to prefer a seated position over a field one on a Maiden show. For me, there's no way on earth I could keep sitting down during their show, I just get too enthusiastic, and it is SO much more fun to be standing, even if it is more towards the back where the audience is not so wild! Also, note that Bruce doesn't like people 'hiding' in the seats in the back (if there are other positions open, of course), and tends to somewhat mock the people in the back. Who would want to be in a position that is to the dislikes of the band?
A great moment in which he did some serious mocking (much more so than at Den Bosch), was during Sanctuary @ Dynamo 2000 (have a listen to it for fun). I thought that was a BIG comfort to all of us at the front who endured extremely heavy rain and were completely soaked. :)

Who says that we were sitting?  When Trivium and Lauren Harris were playing people were sitting.  But when Maiden hit the stage,  we were all standing (well,  almost all,  there was some guy behind me though who wanted to sit).  And Dickinson didn't mock the "sitting" fans.  Instead he seemed quite surprised and happy by the way they reacted (cheering and all).

And Perun,  Dickinson said "you're the best F**king crowd in all of Germany" (or something like that).  So,  we can conclude that Stuttgart must have sucked big times  :P
 
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